On Our Radar: Feminist News Roundup

• Renowned poet and author Maya Angelou died today at age 86. Here are two moving ways to remember her work this morning: a video of her reading "On the Pulse of Morning" at the swearing-in of President Bill Clinton and a powerful interview in 2008 where she said, "I think every year has been challenging. Every day challenges. Some of the challenges were more public than others." [New York Times, Colorlines]

• Fifty senators have called on the NFL to change the name of the Washington Redskins. Citing the NBA’s response to Donald Sterling’s racist rant, they ask, “What message does it send to punish slurs against African Americans while endorsing slurs about Native Americans?” [Mother Jones]

• Earlier this month, the longest-running gay bookstore in the United States closed its doors for good. In this moving profile, writer Tyler Gillespie asks what the closure means for the LGBTQ community in Philadelphia and beyond. [Rolling Stone]

• Workers at a Boston hotel have called on Sheryl “lean in” Sandberg for help as they move toward unionization. Sandberg, who will deliver the Class Day address at Harvard today, declined to meet with the group. [The Harvard Crimson]

Comments

Soraya Post. She got elected to the European Parliament in the recent elections. First, it was for the Feminist Initiative, and second, she's the first Roma to ever be elected to public office in Sweden. (Roma isn't 100% right, she's a "resande", usually translated as traveller, which is a sub-group of Roma, Roma who arrived very early on in Sweden and so became an ethnicity separate from the Roma. Still extremely discriminated against). I think she merits an article or two dedicated to her.